DEAD TRIGGER: UNKILLED (Scott Windhauser & Mike Cuff, 2017)

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Re: DEAD TRIGGER (Scott Windhauser & Mike Cuff, 2017)

Postby Tom on 30 Dec 2018, 19:45

I'll expand my thoughts later, as covering it for review on a podcast, but I thought this was pretty dreadful. It's like a bad student film that for some reason has Dolph and Washington in it. Dreadful cinematography (way too harshly lit and poor grading). Every apparent production issue is very evident in a messy final product. There's a reason it's only now this is being released after over two years since the first portion of the shoot.

For me this ranks as one of his worst, without even an odd charm that something like Agent Red may have. I really hope that Aquaman and Creed 2 will put an end to Dolph doing DT and Shark Lake level films. He can't seriously need the money that badly. I would settle for The Package level in his DTV work. Sadly the upcoming Zirilli film doesn't suggest so. I hope D takes more care in the following 12 months.
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Re: DEAD TRIGGER (Scott Windhauser & Mike Cuff, 2017)

Postby Jox on 31 Dec 2018, 20:03

Tom wrote:He can't seriously need the money that badly.

Apparently he does, and he said so himself in one of the recent interviews. Hard to believe it's taken 8 years but the divorce is only coming to an end, and he just bought a house in LA. He surely isn't paid what used to be even as a starring role given the economy, whereas back in the day making one movie for Nu Image or Franchise he didn't necessarily work for a year. The number of commercials he's been in is another proof (sure doing one for Volvo can be cool like being in a blockbuster, but the Swedish online casino likely wasn't a priority choice of taste)...
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Re: DEAD TRIGGER (Scott Windhauser & Mike Cuff, 2017)

Postby Tom on 01 Jan 2019, 13:04

I would suspect even an advert like Volvo would be just as lucrative (or maybe even that ITV show) as some of the DTV films he's been doing. There's just no money in them any more. Dead Trigger looks so cheap, I'd be astonished if Dolph earned anything significant. If he did, it probably accounted for a huge majority of the budget.
And I'd hazard a guess that a big slice of budget ending up in some pockets somewhere to, and certainly not on screen.

I just hope he can hold fire a little. He just bought that 3 million dollar house recently (Was it Beverley Hills?) so he can't be desperate. He could get well paid doing a reasonable DTV production for a more reputable company. I'm just hoping the Shark Lake days are, for now at least, behind us.

Trouble is, I see a worrying DTV trend. Most of the top selling DTV films in stores in the UK in 2018 weren't really star vehicles. REX, a film about an army dog was the most successful, staying in the overall charts 28 weeks. But looking at some of the stats, a lot of the 'star' vehicles didn't do particualrly well. Black Water wasn't very successful as a seller over here. Don't think it made much headway in the US either. (But overall because of the Asia gross probably ranks as one of D and JC's most successful DTV sellers in recent years). Like Big screen, where franchise and concept is king over star (as I said in an another thread, Keanu can't sell anything besides Wick...). There are very few bankable leads that people flock to now, Dwayne Johnson being one. That aside you could easily interchange cast in Marvel, Disney films, blockbusters etc. People see Bond to see Bond, rather than to see Daniel Craig for example.

That trend appears to be following in DTV, and I suspect we'll see budgets drop even further. So films like Dead Trigger will be an inevitability for D, even Sly etc, but I really hope this little wave gives him a couple of years grace to do better, get a couple of directorial gigs greenlit, and perhaps come to a point where he can retire gracefully. Sly's last two DTV films have been horrific and he's looking ridiculous now.
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Re: DEAD TRIGGER (Scott Windhauser & Mike Cuff, 2017)

Postby Jox on 01 Jan 2019, 17:54

And I'd hazard a guess that a big slice of budget ending up in some pockets somewhere to, and certainly not on screen.
I'm pretty sure he's not always paid what he's due (especially when the budget doesn't come through) or has to wait or go after the money for a while which is also a common practice from producers.

I really hope this little wave gives him a couple of years grace to do better, get a couple of directorial gigs greenlit, and perhaps come to a point where he can retire gracefully.

Yes. A few directorial efforts is what I wish (more than being cast in big movies, and personally JOHN WICK isn't my cup of tea). And now is the perfect time to relaunch this side of his career and craft. I'm a little worried that the production of MALEVOLENCE seemed locked to start this January and now yet it looks like it's on hold. And even though it's a tougher sell, getting on NORDIC LIGHT later this year or next would be fantastic.
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Re: DEAD TRIGGER (Scott Windhauser, 2017)

Postby Jox on 05 Jan 2019, 01:06

Jox wrote:Rated 15 in the UK for "strong bloody violence, gore"
DVD to be released on January 21, 2019 by Thunderbird Releasing

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/dead-trigger-2017
https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07KQH55VB/

Same artwork as in Norway
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Re: DEAD TRIGGER (Scott Windhauser & Mike Cuff, 2017)

Postby Jox on 13 Jan 2019, 13:24

Jox wrote:
Jox wrote:Theatrical releases announced in Malaysia on January 24 and Japan on April 5.

Japanese chirashi flyer and first look at the theatrical poster

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Re: DEAD TRIGGER (Scott Windhauser & Mike Cuff, 2017)

Postby savagesketch on 14 Jan 2019, 06:38

That is a cool cover! The movie itself not so much, but the poster certainly makes it look bigger, badder, and better than it really is! :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: DEAD TRIGGER (Scott Windhauser & Mike Cuff, 2017)

Postby Jox on 16 Jan 2019, 13:39

Jox wrote:Theatrical releases announced in Malaysia on January 24 and Japan on April 5.

https://www.mfd.my/movie/dead-trigger/

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Re: DEAD TRIGGER (Scott Windhauser & Mike Cuff, 2017)

Postby bomaz on 16 Jan 2019, 14:53

I'll be in Malaysia in early february, I'll try to fetch pamphlets or publicity for the movie (but I can't promise it).
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Re: DEAD TRIGGER (Scott Windhauser & Mike Cuff, 2017)

Postby Jox on 16 Jan 2019, 16:10

Cool! You know I archive all those things no matter what the movie is so if you find any please get some for me. :wink:
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Re: DEAD TRIGGER (Scott Windhauser & Mike Cuff, 2017)

Postby bomaz on 16 Jan 2019, 20:07

Yes, that was implied :wink: (but I can't promise that, as I'm travelling with other people and they might give me time to look up for a theater just to pick up movie sheets :lol: ).
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Re: DEAD TRIGGER (Scott Windhauser & Mike Cuff, 2017)

Postby Jox on 17 Jan 2019, 02:32

I wouldn't hold it against you if you didn't! :P
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Re: DEAD TRIGGER (Scott Windhauser & Mike Cuff, 2017)

Postby Jox on 23 Jan 2019, 19:37

It's opening in Malaysia on no less than 60 screens

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Re: DEAD TRIGGER (Scott Windhauser & Mike Cuff, 2017)

Postby ramboraph4life on 27 Jan 2019, 09:46

Just caught this the other night...and My God. Spoiler Warning for those who are interested in seeing the film.



I thought 'how could you mess up Dolph vs. Zombies'. Battle of the Damned had its' issues but it was still fun.

But this film? It makes the budget of Battle of the Damned look like World War Z. It makes Uwe Boll's House of the Dead look like Dawn of the Dead.

I just could not believe how cheap this film looked. Plot points just drop (the super zombie that took a million bullets...i thought that was going to go somewhere later on, like perhaps 'oh, there will be more of them to deal with'. But Nope), useless characters (what did the lead kid actually DO? Like seriously, in the entire film's duration did he actually do anything?), extremely poor FX on every front whether it be zombie make-up/CGI blood/CGI knives/CGI gunshots/etc. (even House of the Dead had practical gore), Dolph's hair looking like a Ken Doll, bad fight scenes (I swear the fight scene between Dolph and Oleg? The wide shots were body doubles. I could be wrong but I Swear they were) and one of the Dumbest and Most Illogical Plot twists for the ending.

Extra Spoiler Warnings:

For anyone else who saw the ending...just how? Why? So the whole movie was a game the kids were playing when everything was fine and there was no zombie outbreak...but then weeks later a zombie outbreak happened as we find out via narration? So why not just make the rest of the movie real to begin with? Why have this ending twist in the first place when it'll just I can't imagine this was the original ending and was added due to all of the production problems/rewrites.

How convenient is it that a kid plays a game of 'zombie apocalypse' but then weeks later it becomes real? If Dolph is just a game character, then why is he standing on top of a building at the very end as if he was real? Did the game base their character on Dolph? If so, why considering the game was made before there was any 'zombie' outbreak? Why would the 'game' (aka the film before the ending) feature the real evil corporation lady? Why would the lead kid's buddies still have their headsets on when they technically 'died' a long time ago? None of it makes a lick of sense at all!

No wonder this film has been delayed for so long...easily one of Dolph's Top 5 worst along with Retrograde, The Last Warrior, Shark Lake and Agent Red.

Seeing films like this actually make me appreciate Kindergarten Cop 2 more.
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